Nighttime PT for 4yo girl?

[drsweetie]

Potty training has been a struggle since day one as DD is fairly strong-willed and tends to get so wrapped up in her playtime that she doesn't read her signals until it's too late. We finally seem to have a decent handle on daytime PT, but she still wakes up soaked every morning. We have kept her in diapers at night for this very reason. DH is worried that the nighttime PT is not progressing as it should. Our pediatrician told us not to try nighttime PT until she was waking up dry most mornings out of the week, but DH is worried that unless we push the issue, she'll never make any progress. What have other people done? Underwear? Pull-ups? Underwear inside Pull-ups? I've read the other posts I could find on this topic and am just too confused to really distill all the information.

Ellen

[mudder17]

You know your child best, but do you think you should let her take a breather for nights or to push through? Much will depend on the child. Just so you know, Kaya was still soaking her night diaper when we decided to potty train her for nights. She had been PT'd for days for over a year, so we decided to see if we could do nights with her. We talked it up and told her that when she was ready, we would get her night time underwear so she could try staying dry at night. I got her Snap-EZ cotton trainers in some fun prints and a Little Beetle Merino wool pull-on cover. I also got her a cool Boon potty that we keep in her room at the foot of her ladder. Then, we started waking her up once a night (somewhere between 9 and 11 pm--she goes to bed around 7:00). I would wake her, carry her down the ladder, help her pee, and put her back to bed and she almost immediately went back to sleep. I'd empty the potty in the morning (her door makes a lot of noise opening and closing, so I didn't want to go back and forth into her room and the Boon works well at containing any smells). It took her a few nights to get the hang of it and a few times when I woke her up at nght, she had already peed in her underwear. The cotton trainers and the wool cover were usually pretty good at containing the pee and I've only had to wash her sheets twice. Anyway, after maybe 3-4 weeks, we stopped waking her up at night since she was finally starting to pee less and less at night. If she's had a lot to drink in the evening, we'll still wake her on occasion, but otherwise, she's doing quite well. She's even managed to wake herself up occasionally to pee, but mostly she waits until the morning. This is impressive when you think about just how deep a sleeper she is. There were times when it took a few minutes of shaking her and singing to her to get her to wake up! Anyway, let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!


Eileen

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[MarisaSF]

Our situation was a bit different, but the Pull-Ups with "Learning Designs" worked for nighttime PT for DD. She was so concerned about "not making the flowers disappear" and it was a huge incentive for her to stay dry and sit on the potty as soon as she woke up in the morning. I never would have guessed that would work. At that point, she was fully day-trained, so she really thought of Pull-Ups as only "night underwear."

I did try the underwear inside Pull-Ups one night and DD woke up screaming and crying as soon as she wet; not nice. :( She also woke up screaming one morning when she was only wearing undies (she had refused to put on a pull-up).

I planned to do what Eileen does with waking up Kaya. However, DD turns into a raving lunatic if woken in the middle of the night.

[Wife_and_mommy]

DD has stayed dry all night since about 22M or so. She only just pt'd though in the last 6 weeks or so. We put a pullup on her for our peace of mind but she really doesn't need it.

I wanted to mention that your dd might not be ready to night train if she's struggled with pt'ing. There are some kiddos who night wet until 5, 6, 7, even 8 or 9. My DH was one of those. He, to this day, potties several times during the night. It wasn't handled well by IL's so it's a subject close to my heart.

I was just reading about this so it's fresh in my mind that some people have smaller bladders than others. That is the reason some of us can hold it all night while others can't.

Hth.



I love them most when they are sleeping.--Me
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[jermak]

We too had issues when my daughter was younger. She was such a heavy sleeper she never got up to go!!! My ped. said it would go away on it's own- and it did but she was 5 or so before it stopped altogether. Until then she wore pull ups. She also had daytime issues through 1/2 of first grade (that wasn't fun b/c she didn't tell us she was having accidents, she didn't realize the smell gives it away!!!). To solve that dilemna, she wore a watch with a timer (it vibrated on her wrist) to tell her to go. (We saw a specialist who had us to do this) By going on a regular basis (every 2 hours or so) her brain/bladder connection finally solidified. Now she has an accident 1x or 2x a year when she waits too long and can't make it to the potty- and the accident is always in the bathroom about 2 steps from the toliet!!!

I wouldn't push the nighttime issue- kids' bodies mature at different rates. Also, you don't want to make her more self-conscious about it.

Good luck!

[Joolsplus2]

Pullups till age (almost) 7. then she was suddenly dry all the time, no issue at all. My ped said don't worry until age 7. you can't push it, unless you want to wash sheets several nights a week. my ds was totally dry at night at 4.5, so there's plenty of hope (i mean, literally, 'overnight', both kids were dry.
The only mistake I made was not buying washable pullups (like mother of eden overnight undies) sooner...pullups cost, $20ish a month, right? 2 pairs of these is $50, one to wash, one to wear, and saves you a heap of money in the long run.

Just my 9 cents :)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
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